This invention relates to a new and distinct variety of Mandevilla that originated from self-pollinating the hybrid Mandevilla X `Alice du Pont`. Mandevilla X `Alice du Pont` is a hybrid from a cross of [M. splendens X (unknown species)] X M. splendens according to Bailey (see reference noted below).
This new Mandevilla is the result of deliberate self-pollination performed by the inventor in a greenhouse at Gem Ornamentals in Tavares, Fla. in 1989. This new variety was selected for further evaluation because it had a white flower color. The new variety has been reproduced by asexual propagation using cuttings. Each of the progeny exhibits identical characteristics to the original mother plant establishing this hybrid as reproducible and true to type.
This new variety is neither like any Mandevilla commercially available nor any of those described in the following publications:
Bailey, L. H. and E. Z. Bailey; Hortus Third, Macmillian, New York, 1976. PA0 Graf, A. B.; Color Cyclopedia of Exotic Plants and Trees, Rohers Co. East Rutherford, N.J., 1978.
Unlike currently available Mandevilla, the present invention has the following unusual characteristics:
1. White flowers -- that open pale pink, fade to white within 1-2 days after anthesis and remain on the plant an additional 3-4 days;
2. Growth habit that exhibits moderate axillary branching once flowering has been initiated; and
3. Linear to elliptically shaped, leathery, shiny dark green and evergreen leaves.